New health projects on track

Manama, August 10, 2013

Two major health projects are expected to be launched in Bahrain before the end of the month. Officials confirmed they were putting the finishing touches to the much-awaited Genetic Blood Diseases Centre and new mortuary at the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC), a report said.

"The Genetic Blood Diseases Centre and the new morgue, both at the SMC, are two important projects that we were working on for some time now and are almost complete," the Health Ministry's hospital affairs assistant under-secretary Dr Ameen Al Sa'ati was quoted as saying by the Gulf Daily News report.

"They are on schedule and will be ready without any delay."

He confirmed the BD2.5 million centre includes 90 beds over four floors with a section for emergency cases, a children's ward and private rooms.

It will house an out-patient clinic and long-stay unit, entertainment rooms for children and other facilities.

"Last week, the Minister Sadiq Al Shehabi along with top health officials toured the facility and we can say it is ready," said Dr Al Sa'ati.

"At the moment, the machines and equipment are being brought in while officials are also waiting for the consignment of medical and non-medical furniture to arrive.

"Everything is moving in the right direction and it will not be long before emergency patients are referred to this centre."

The centre is expected to reduce pressure on SMC and improve the quality of care available at a time when deaths among sickle cell patients have been a matter of concern to the government and sickle cell campaigners.

Dr Al Sa'ati said an expansion of the SMC mortuary had also been completed.

"The two-storey building housing the morgue has 60 refrigerators and there is also a large cold storage room, which can be useful in case of a disaster," he said. - TradeArabia News Service